Main reason for vaping is to quit smoking – UK study

In 2015, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) conducted a study on e-cigarette use in the UK.

The results of the study have now been released, and show that there are an estimated 2.2 million adults in the UK who currently use e-cigarettes. That equates to approximately 4 percent of the population, which is 1 in every 25 adults.

Of all the reasons for vaping, the majority of adults said the main reason they vaped was to help them quit smoking, at 53 percent. Second to that came the reason that electronic cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, with 22 percent of vapers stating this as the reason for their habit. On top of that, another 9 percent said they vaped because of how affordable it is, and another 9 percent said it was because they could vape inside.

Only 3 percent of current vapers had not previously used combustible cigarettes.

On the other hand, 59 percent of current e-cigarette users also use traditional cigarettes. Jamie Jenkins, a senior ONS statistician, used this statistic to suggest that vaping wasn’t very effective as a smoking cessation device.

“While the majority of people are using e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking, it seems they don’t work for everyone, as three-quarters of former vapers are still smoking cigarettes.”

However, many smokers use vaping as a way to simply cut down on their tobacco intake – even if they don’t intend to quit smoking altogether.

Altogether, of the current e-cigarette users, two-thirds of them say they use them every day. A further one in five do so at least once a week.

Meanwhile, the average cigarette consumption for smokers was 11.4 per day, which continues the downward trend over time, that was as high as 16.8 per day in 1976.